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Her Wicked Proposal

by Lauren Smith

A League of Rogues Novel

Once the ton’s darling, sudden blindness has left Cedric a reclusive shell of a man. Until he’s offered the chance to recapture a small part of his old life when the woman he’s secretly desired for years asks him to propose to her.

Who doesn’t love a naughty rogue? Third in the fan favorite historical romance, League of Rogues series, by Lauren Smith, you do not want to miss HER WICKED PROPOSAL!

Cedric, Viscount Sheridan, is cursed. Once the ton’s golden boy, the loss of his sight has left him a reclusive shell of man. His days of womanizing, horse racing and pistol shooting lost forever.

Offered the chance to recapture a small part of his old life, he can’t refuse—even if it means accepting the shocking proposal of the infamous ice maiden, Anne Chessley.

Still reeling from her father’s death, Anne’s deepest wish is to avoid the hordes of fortune hunters who will soon be beating down her door. Proposing marriage to Cedric is an act of desperation, his unexpected acceptance a strange and wonderful dream.

His only stipulation: she must respond passionately and wantonly in his bed. Her agreement barely crosses her lips before he begins a sensual assault on the icy walls bitter secrets have built around her heart.

Yet even as they catch a glimpse of true happiness, betrayal is poised to sweep them away on opposing tides of danger.

Warning: Contains an outwardly aloof heroine with a secretly tender heart, a once-notorious rake who isn’t quite as rusty at seduction as he feared, and a band of rogues who join together to make sure happily-ever-afters do come true.

Everyone has heard of Jane Austen, every female reader at least. We all know the love story between Darcy and Elizabeth, and her family with too many unwed daughters. Whether you like Austen or not, you’ve at least heard of her. She’s a defining voice of the Regency period for two main reasons 1) she was a female writer who published novels under her own name rather than that of a man and was successful and 2) her stories captivate and spellbind readers because her characters and her love stories are compelling.

I grew up on Jane Austen and love her books. While I have other classic authors who are perhaps more beloved in my bookshelf, than her, I still love her because of what she started. The Regency Romance. We would not have any regency set romances if it wasn’t for Jane getting the ball rolling. So what is it about the Regency that makes it so fascinating that time and again readers will reach for those romances and why writers like me keep returning to it?

The answer is a complicated one. The main thing about the Regency is that the time period’s motto seemed to be “eat, drink and be merry!” The world was England’s stage and everyone could play a part. This was the era right before the Victorian age, which was a time of buttoned down, “no fun” attitudes. In the Regency, people were dressing with slimmer form fitting gowns, sometimes the women even dampened their gowns with water to make them cling to their figures! That wouldn’t happen at any other time period. The foot was sumptuous, the men could get carried away at the gambling tables, or get into notorious wagers from the betting books at their clubs, like “Will Mr. X Seduce the daughter of Mr. J at the ball tonight?” And men would actually bet on this! It was simply outrageous!

Scandal was more entertainment than it was a social death knell. The Regency was like a thirty year period of British “Days of our Lives”-like soap opera. You need never wonder who was sleeping with who because it would be printed in the papers and then talked about that afternoon over tea much to the amusement of everyone, including the parties involved sometimes. So while women could be ruined by a mere glance from a man, they often had more freedom than the Victorians and Edwardians which would follow after.

As a writer, the Regency is full of possibilities. There are no wars to burden the characters, you simply let them run free and get into good old-fashioned trouble and fun. It’s a setting you can offer a reader to which promises, balls, dancing, gentleman heroes who have a touch of the naughty side to them making them rakes or rogues. It’s a blend of sweet and sensual that will always draw me in again and again.

Amazon Best-Selling Author Lauren Smith is an attorney by day, author by night, who pens adventurous and edgy romance stories by the light of her smart phone flashlight app. She’s a native Oklahoman who lives with her three pets: a feisty chinchilla, sophisticated cat and dapper little schnauzer. She’s won multiple awards in several romance sub-genres including being an Amazon.com Breakthrough Novel Award Quarter-Finalist and a Semi-Finalist for the Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Award.

Mother, Nehiyaw, Metis, & career communicator. This is my collection of opinions, stories, and the occasional rise to, or fall from, challenge. In other words, it's my party, I can fun if I want to. .................................................................. Artwork by aaronpaquette.net